The Pirate Bay Taken Offline By Swedish Authorities (Updated) — Today, Stockholm's district court took action to completely remove The Pirate Bay from the Internet. — The court ordered the site's major bandwidth supplier, Black Internet, to disconnect TPB from the Internet or face penalties of 500,000 kroner ($70,600).

Facebook Reaps Recruits at High Levels — Boosting hiring amid a job slump, Facebook snares Yahoo!'s security chief, an open-source guru from Six Apart, and talent from Genentech and Google — So much for cutting back during the downturn. — As Facebook ramps up hiring …

Yahoo gets more social with Mail, search updates — SUNNYVALE, CALIF.—Yahoo increased the social graces of its core products Monday, with a nod to its new home page and a declaration that it's not done with search just yet. — Popular Yahoo products such as Mail and Messenger will soon grow more social …

Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People — Wikipedia, one of the 10 most popular sites on the Web, was founded about eight years ago as a long-shot experiment to create a free encyclopedia from the contributions of volunteers, all with the power to edit, and presumably improve, the content.

Why did Apple okay RingCentral? — Here's a question the FCC neglected to ask Apple (AAPL) in its inquiry into why the company rejected — or as Apple prefers, declined to approve — Google Voice: — Why has a free app that does essentially the same thing — and would seem to raise …

Jobs, Back at Apple, Focuses on New Tablet — Just a few months after Steve Jobs had a liver transplant, the Apple Inc. chief executive is once again managing even the smallest details of his company's products, this time focused on a new tablet device. — Since his return in late June …

Sony boss reveals plans for PlayStation — The Times was the only UK publication at Gamescom in Cologne last week to speak with Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai. We met up with him the morning after he had taken the stage to announce the new PlayStation 3 Slim …

Hulu UK launch delayed until 2010 — Hulu, the US-based web TV service, is now not expected to launch in the UK until 2010, having not managed to sign any content deals yet. — Originally expected to launch by September 2009, by broadcasters and media agencies alike …

Update on Windows 7 in Europe — I want to provide a couple of updates for my friends in Europe today in regards to Windows 7. — I want to start off with an update to our plans for the Windows 7 Family Pack. As I mentioned last month, starting with the launch of Windows 7 on October 22nd …

Apple admits iPhone apps not suitable for business — Commercial programs are solely for non-commercial use — Apple is reminding customers that applications sold through the iTunes store are strictly for non-commercial use: business use is forbidden, which makes one wonder what that section of the store is for.

Media multitaskers pay mental price, Stanford study shows — Attention, multitaskers (if you can pay attention, that is): Your brain may be in trouble. — People who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information do not pay attention, control their memory or switch …